Apparatus and method for separating solid particles



United States Patent George Paul Baummer 8029 Dalesl'ord Road, Baltimore, Maryland 21234 July 25, 1968 Nov. 3, 1970 lnventor Appl. No. Filed Patented APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR SEPARATING SOLID PARTICLES 6 Claims, 5 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl. 209/437, 209/494, 209/498, 209/506 Int. Cl B03b 3/14 Field of Search 209/437- References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 537,945 4/1895 1 Tarrant 209/446 829,443 8/1906 Thurston 209/445 1,291,137 1/1919 209/494X 1,314,335 8/1919 209/438 1,986,179 1/1935 I 209/446 2,484,203 10/1949 Beck 209/446 Primary Examiner- F rank W. Lutter Altorney- Louis A. Scholz ABSTRACT: Apparatus for separating solid particles has a closed housing with a conical bottom, a retainer block at the apex of said bottom, a feed inlet, a deflector beneath said inlet, a discharge conduit having its inlet opening adjacent the retainer block and means for oscillating the housing.

Patented Nov. 3, 1970 3,537,581

Sheet or 2 TA/L/NGS 37 /3 3a 9 SOURCE OF "S/FTED MATTER 4 GOLD ARCUATE PATH REMOML F/G. IA

TA/L/NGS 37 J SOURCE S/FTED MATTER ARCUATE 7 GOLD PATH -REMOM4L By MM ATTORNEY Patented Nov. 3, 1970 I 3,537,581

Sheet 0! 2 APPARATUS AND Mentor) FOR SEPARATING soup rxnrrcuss SUMMARY OF THE lNveNrioN The object of this invention is to apply the process which is described in the following specifications and claims to placer mining operations. The process efficiently and rapidly separates particles'of matter according to relative weight, retaining the heavier matter while discharging the relatively lighter weight matter. Thus, this process is especially adaptable and applicable to placer mining operations, wherein the requirement is to separate'and retain the heavy mineral particles of value-such as gold-and to discharge the lighter weight mineral particles such as common gravel which is found together with valuable minerals in placer deposits. The machine, for utilizing this principle placer mining process can be constructed of standard-type materials to various scales; however the accompanying drawings and specifications apply to a light-weight, high-capacity, portable machine which can easily be transported and operated by one or two persons.

Details ofthe foregoing objects and of the process invented. as well as other objects thereof, are set forth in the following specifications and are. illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1A is an elevational,illustrationofa portable placer mining processing machine. Represented are the motor 15, the pump 14, the oscillating device 13, mounting plates 16, supporting legs 17, and the processing unit 12, which embodies the process invented; FIG. 1B is an elevational view of an alternative methodof operating the device shown in FIG. 1A;

FIG. 2 is a detail cutaway view of the processing unit, show ing details of construction; and

FIGS. 3 and 4 respectively are sectional views taken on the lines 3-3 and 4-4of FIG. 1A to show additional views of the internal parts of the processing unit.

The specification referto and describe the processing unit The presifted matter suspended in water or air and collected through pump intake'33 and propelled by the pump action through pump exit then by hose 31 enters the processing unit 12 through the intake passage 19. In the first flow path the matter and water are directed onto the splatter plate 23 as shown in FIG. 2. The purpose of the splatter plate 23 is to diffuse the water and matter, preventing undesirable whirlpool action within the processing unit 12. From this point the matter is directed to fall to the outer edges of the processing unit 12 by the deflection plate 24. The matter then appears on the upper and outer edges of the cone-shaped bottom plate 22. The oscillating action of'the processing unit 12 causes the matter to move toward the relatively lower center of the bottom plate 22. A retainer block 25 is secured in the center of the bottom plate 22 by a bolt or thumb screw 26 which enters through the bottom platedrain hole 27. The matter entering the processing unit 12 as described above will accumulate around the retainer block 25 to a depth corresponding to the height of the retainer block 25. The exhaust passage 20 is adjustedin a known manner, one embodiment shown as sleeve 34 with adjusting nut 35 (shown but not claimed) in relation ship to the retainer block 25 to discharge all matter which extends beyond the height of the retainer block 25. Matter below this level and beyond the circumference of the retainer block 25 is out of range of the force action developed against the exhaust passage 20 due to pump action. As a result of this arrangement a predetermined amount of matter indicated in the trap area 28 will remain entrapped around the retainer block 25 and in effect, form a trap for relatively heavy matter. Due to the oscillation of the processing unit 12, the matter held in this trap area 28 is in constant motion. Relatively heavy particles entering the processing unit 12 will move to illustrated in the accompanying drawings and for the purpose of clarity the invention will be referred to in the specification as the, processing'unit relating to the specific placer mining processing machine illustrated.

The processing unit- 12, in FIG. 1A, is a closed chamber suspended on pivot mounts 18 with a detachable bottom section joined at the sealing gasket 21 as shown in FlG. 2. The processing unit 12 illustrated is constructed preferably of l8- gaug'e galvanized iron and it is about 12 times the pipe 19 diameter at its largest diameter. The intake passage 19 and the exhaust passage 20 aremade preferably of about l-inch copper tubing.

The separation and retaining of the relatively heavier particles ofmatter and the discharge ofthe relatively lighter weight particles of matter are achieved by the processing unit 12 in the following manner.

Preliminary sifting of the matter to be processed by the processing unit 12 is required, and is done in'a manner known in the art and done prior to feeding the material to the intake hose 33. The processing unit l2-illustrated in the drawing and described in the specification will process matter passed through a sieve with 41-inch holes, and proportionately larger passage ways, 19, 23, 34, 20, and housing 12, as shown in FIG. 2 would be required for material of larger size than xii-inch sieve. Generally speakingthe minimum opening for passage ways 19., 23, 34, 20, to eliminate jamming is five times the largest particle size. When theproeessing unit 12 is in operation it isoscillated on its pivot mounts 18 at a rate of approximately 300 times per minute. The cone-shaped bottomplate 22 of the processing unit 12 is the farthest point on the arc of the pivot mounts 18. The total distance traveled from the oscillation at this point is approximately one-half inch, one-fourth inch from center in opposite directions. The purpose of this oscillation is explained in the following specification.

the bottom of this trap area 28 displacing relatively lighter particles due to the separating effect of the oscillation of processing unit 12 described beginning second line from the bottom of page 4 ofthis application which in turn are expelled from the processing unit 12 through the exhaust passage 20. A second method of operation is shown in FIG. 1B which is essentially the same as shown in FIG. 1A, except the pump 14 instead of being connected ahead of the processor l2,intake passage 19, is connected to processor 12, exhaust 20, and thus forces the material through processor 12 by what is commonly called suction," which at sea level is limited to atmospheric pressure as a driving force. This opposed to the method shown in 1A, which operates onpressures above atmospheric pres sures. Further in both FIG. 1A and 1B, methods of operation, motor 15 drives pulley 36, which in turn by means of belt 40 drives both, 13 through pulley 38 and 14 through pulley 37. To recover the heavy particles retained in the trap area 28 of the processing unit 12, the bottom section of the processing unit 12 is removed. The retaining screw 26 and the retainer block 25 are both removed from the bottom plate 22, exposing the bottom plate drain hole 27 from which the contents retained in the processing unit 12 can be drained into a container for final processing.

lclaim:

1. in an apparatus for separating particulate materials of various specific densities, wherein the particles are carried in a fluid medium, the improvement comprising:

a. A fluid-tight housing having a removable cover wall portion and a substantially conical convex bottom wall portion, having an aperture at its lowermost end, said cover wall portion having an inlet conduit with discharge end pointing upwardly, and an outlet conduit having an. admission end pointing downwardly and spaced from the lowermost portion of said bottom wall, generally defining the fluid flow path;

b. said housing defining an enlarged volume and a reduced speed fluid flow path of substantially larger cross section than that of said inlet conduit and said outlet conduit, and said cross section having substantially greater width than height;

pressure.

5. In a process for separating, fluidcarried particulate,

c. an oscillating means to oscillate said housing in an arcuate path, said path being in substantial coincidence with a major diameter of said conical bottom wall;

d. a fluid pressure means, for conducting the fluid carried the following steps: 7

material of varying specific densities, the method comprising particulate material into said inlet conduit through said 5 a. introducing the fluid carryingthe particulate material for. h ng n Said l eefully to a chamber closed to entrance of atmospheric e. a eonically shaped splatter plate within said housing. pressure, in a generally downwardly directed flow, said located Said enlarged Volume f 'R and ha vlng chamber having a convex conical bottom wall and said P lmel'posed Spaced relanonshlfl from f mlel bottom wall having a circular retaining block oftruncated g s and located athwufl Smd f cross section having its uppermost surface level and formm Sam Inlet F g m dgflect f 'f thefmenor ing an acute angle riffle pocket with the lowermost inside periphery of said housing; and below said inlet discharge fluid Suppomng surface f Said chamber; l f h l fi li l y gp z f Q t j of b. deflecting said flow of fluid over at least one substantially 5 Sma er malor ameter t an ousmg (mom horizontally sloping supporting path, and along said slopfg f l g i Sand f fi Plate ing path spreading said flow to effect a greatly reduced an sai o om wa an aving l s apex pom mg upforward flow path Speed; f f c. forcing said fluid in its downwardly directed flow along f. a circular retainer block, of truncated cone cross section, said chamber bottom inner sloping path and against Said havmg a fg :1 3 formmg acute angle riffle pocket edge, defined by the uppermost j gg 6 PM et Sal (mom surface and the sides of said block and horizontally across sal u ermost urface while at the same time oscillatm a removable apgrmm closmg and retamer bloqk-secunng said cl l mber an d its contents in a direction erpendicu means, for securing said retainer block to the lowermost lar to said acute an 18 Ocket ed e and selbmmiau portion of said bottom wall through said aperture, said g p g y i parallel to said chamber bottom to effect a separation of aperture defining a drain hole to remove the material the less dense particles from the more dense particles; from said retainer block pocket, and said retainer block I I I d i a g I Securing means closing Said aperture when said retainer d. discharging in an upwar direction the less dense partiblock is secured thereby. ffl" th d I I th L 1' k t 2. A device as in claim 1, wherein said fluid medium isa gas. F I F K m L p06 e 3. A device as in claim I, wherein said pressure means conor w g' g' n i i f I ducts said fluid at pressures substantially below atmospheric A P m c w F u pressure non of Suld flUld carrying the particulate material is accom- A-device as in laim 1 wherein Said pressure means com phshed by a vacuum applied at the chamber discharge. ducts said fluid at pressures substantially above atmospheric 

